Alex Campbell was one of the major influences in my life, where music is concerned, and thankfully somewhat less of an influence in terms of the consumption of quantities of beer.

The abiding memory I have of the man is the effect he had on my tendency to over embellish everything. It was a stunning revelation that one could simply stand up and sing a very simple melody, with little, or even no, accompaniment, and sound absolutely wonderful.

Of course there were good nights and bad, though the latter were only taking place over a comparatively short later section of his career.

I had the pleasure of booking him on at least five occasions, of which only one was of dubious quality (and that only for the last twenty minutes). Needless to say all five sold out and nobody present ever suggested that booking him was a mistake.

I knew, as did every organiser, of his reputation for unreliability, but I'm grateful that I was arrogant enough to ignore all warnings, and I had some wonderful evenings as a result.

God rest him
Don T.